Inside Unmanned Systems

AUG-SEP 2018

Inside Unmanned Systems provides actionable business intelligence to decision-makers and influencers operating within the global UAS community. Features include analysis of key technologies, policy/regulatory developments and new product design.

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40 unmanned systems
inside
August/September 2018
AIR
IPP VIRGINIA
F
or years, the Virginia Tech
M i d - A t l a n t i c Av i a t i o n
Partnership (MAAP) drone
test site has focused its re-
search on proving what unmanned
aircraft systems (UAS) can do and
how the technology can benefit a va-
riety of industries. They'll continue
that work as they spearhead Virginia's
Integration Pilot Program (IPP) but
with a slightly different twist.
Rather than concentrating on proof
of concept f lights, MAAP and the part-
ners who are part of the Innovation
and Entrepreneurship Investment
Authority team will shift their atten-
tion to community engagement as
well as developing procedures to safely
integrate drones into the National
Airspace, with a focus on beyond vi-
sual line of sight (BVLOS) f lights.
To start, they'll work with Project
Wing to investigate package deliv-
ery, State Farm to look at how f lying
drones BVLOS can speed up damage
assessment after natural events, and
Dominion Energy to determine the
best way to incorporate BVLOS f lights
for infrastructure inspection. MAAP
Photos courtesy of Mark Blanks, Mid Atlantic Aviation Partnership at VA Tech,
David Allen, Dominion Energy and Steve Eisenrauch Dominion Energy.
has a history with each company, and
began working on all three projects
before they knew they'd be one of the
10 teams selected for the program,
MAAP Director Mark Blanks said.
"There's a lot that we've already start-
ed, though there will be some changes
in each project under IPP. We've been
working in all these areas for quite
a long time and now we're scoping
out what we want to accomplish over
the next few years and determine if it
makes sense to scale our approach or
to do it all at once in different areas,"
Blanks said. "We'll focus more on com-
munity outreach and engagement and
getting feedback from localities. How
that rolls out is still to be determined
at this point."
GETTING COMMUNITIES INVOLVED
One of the goals for the Virginia team
is to move beyond the testing environ-
ment and to start completing more
f lights in real-world scenarios, Blanks
said. This is the best way to introduce
the public to drones and to prove the
good they can do. Though the details
on how this will work aren't clear
by Renee Knight
The Virginia team, led by the Innovation and Entrepreneurship
Investment Authority, plans to develop safe, eff ective procedures that
can be put into place for beyond visual line of sight (BVLOS) fl ights—
engaging community members throughout the process.
EMPHASIS ON
Community
12,000
The main goal is to
showcase this can be
done on a broader scale.
It's one thing to operate
in a test environment,
it's another to do it in the
real world and over long
distances."
Mark Blanks, director, MAAP
The number of visual line of
sight inspections Dominion
Energy has completed via
drone since 2015.
"
P P IP
Integration Pilot Program
Team Follow-Ups
Source:
Steve Eisenrauch,
Dominion Energy's
manager of electric
transmission forestry and
line services